10 Questions to ask your broker when you get your real estate license in Missouri or Kansas City

When you get your Missouri real estate license in Kansas City one of the most important days in your career is when you decide which broker to hang your license with. You will quickly find out the getting your Missouri real estate license is just the first part in a successful career in real estate. When you are new, you don’t know what you don’t know. Here are a list of 10 questions that your broker should be able to answer:

What do you have in place as far as new real estate agent training or mentoring? What does it cost? Show me your last 12 months metrics on the success of the program. How many agents enrolled, how many transactions over what period of time?

At what point in my dollar volume production do I truly get to keep 100% of my commission?

Do you have hidden or added fees that I have to pay for if my clients will not cover them i.e transaction fee, administrative fee, additional marketing fee? If so, what do I get for those fees? When do they go away?

How much of the owner’s profit did you share back with your agents?

Would I be able to see the office’s financial statement? Are your books open to your agent population? Why not?

Do I have a say in how the money that I contribute to the company is spent?

Now that I know which questions to ask my broker, what’s next?

Getting your Missouri real estate license is just the first step in a fulfilling career in real estate. Make sure you partner with a company that views you as a business partner and not just the customer. You want to find an environment and a culture that matches up with yours. When choosing an office to hang your Missouri real estate license with, be sure that the answers you get to these questions make sense to you.

If you are considering getting your Missouri real estate license you may find that is is easier than you thought. The process of getting your real estate license, whether you are in Kansas City or St. Louis is pretty much the same. The Missouri Real Estate Commission mandates a certain number of classroom or online hours to get your Missouri real estate license.

Many real estate license schools in Kansas City and Missouri in general have both classes that you need.

Getting your real estate license in Missouri and Kansas City is easier than you think!

The first class needed to get your Missouri real estate license is called the Missouri Pre-License Course, which is exactly what it sounds like. This 48 hour class prepares you to take the Missouri Real Estate License Test. Once you complete this course, either in-class or online, you are ready to take the real estate license test for Missouri , which covers national and state specific questions.

The second class needed to get your Missouri real estate license is called the 24 hour Missouri Practice Course. This class begins to show you the “Practice” or the business workings of real estate. You will go over forms, and some very basic best practices of running a real estate business in Missouri.

Additional Steps to Get Your Missouri Real Estate License

Along with your Missouri Real Estate Classes, you will need to take the Missouri State license test. If you took the classes at a school or online they will give you the information on approved real estate license testing centers. These will be proctored exams, so be prepared to remove all personal belongings.

One last thing you need to do to get your Missouri real estate license is to get your fingerprints taken for your background check. In Missouri, you are required to use an approved third party vendor for this. Yes, even if you are cleared for top secret defense contracts, and you just came back from a 4 year tour with Homeland Security, the Missouri Real Estate Commission would like you to submit new fingerprints.

What does it take to become a millionaire real estate agent? How do you sustain that status regardless of market conditions? Here, 13 KW MAPS Coaches offer 13 things you should do now to dominate your market.

Dianna Kokoszka, CEO, KW MAPS Coaching and KWU

“Whether you are an agent or team leader, this is the year to focus on growth. Your business grows to the extent you grow. Challenge yourself to exceed your biggest goals ever and work with a coach or other accountability partner to follow through and succeed.”

Tony DiCello, Executive Director of KW MAPS Coaching

“Lead generate and follow up at least three hours per day for at least 200 days during the year. Put it in your time blocking schedule and have your coach or someone hold you accountable to doing this ONE Thing.”

Real estate in Kansas City, and every other market across the country, is a local business and people do business with whom they know, like and trust. The National Association of Realtors 2011 profile of home buyers and sellers, surveyed home buyers and sellers and asked them why they chose the agent they worked with. Here are their findings:

If the number one brand in real estate in kansas city is YOU – let’s take a look at where most new and seasoned agents have the best opportunity for growth:

More new agents and seasoned agents are beginning to PROFIT FROM THE TRUTH and are no longer buying into the rumors our competitors are feeding them.

Are you hitting your potential? What does the next level of success look like for you? Who at your current brokerage is helping you get there? How much longer are you willing to wait to make what you deserve?

Getting Seller Listing Leads in a Hot Market Can Be As Easy As 1-5!

For July, while we are hanging on to this seller’s market here in Kansas City I wanted to share some effective strategies to increase your listing inventory. So this whole month I will be posting 5 strategies for picking up new listings in Kansas City or any market for that matter. These listing strategies are simple, easy and effective. If you are not implementing lead generation activities for picking up listings then you are really missing out in this real estate market shift.

5 in July Listing Strategies

Getting Listings from Your Database or Sphere of Influence

Getting Listings from Open Houses

Getting New Listings From your Geographical Farm

Getting For Sale By Owner Listings or FSBO Listings

Getting Expired Listings

Why work three times harder?

Why do we focus on getting listings leads for our business? One word – LEVERAGE. If we have listings we have an opportunity for three transactions, let me explain. First, you sell the listing. Second, that seller also needs to buy a new home. Third, you will get sign calls that can be converted to buyers, and who knows they may also have a house to sell. There is also a bonus, if the caller is unrepresented and wants to stay that way then you can double side the transaction.

So listings equal leverage. You don’t have to be there to show them and they have the opportunity to turn into multiple transactions. When you have a steady listing inventory you don’t have to focus on getting buyer leads, they will be coming to you. Not enough buyers? Simple, get more listings! So stay tuned for the next post, where we dive into your Database and the Acres of Diamonds there.

Are you looking to convert more For Sale By Owners into listings in your market?

Regardless of the market, one of the best listing opportunities are still the For Sale by Owner, or FSBO (pronounced Fizz-Bo by most Realtors). There are several reasons why FSBO’s are still and have been one of the best listing opportunities for realtors and they are:

They have already “raised their hand” that they want to sell.

Most are already willing to work with agents who have buyers, so getting in touch and creating a relationship is fairly easy.

There are usually plenty of them to prospect and they have their phone numbers and emails readily available.

So why aren’t more agents listing For Sale By Owners in their market?

While the reasons vary, most agents don’t convert FSBO listings due to several reasons. Do any of these apply to you?

Since FSBOs are called on by many agents early on, they may get a frustrated individual on the phone and it makes them feel bad, that “All FSBOs are just MEAN!”

They don’t have anything of value to offer when they follow up with the For Sale by Owner so each call feels like they are bothering them.

These are just several of the main reasons why most agents give up on FSBOs and why you can use this information to your advantage.

A few stats on For Sale By Owners that you need to know.

94% of for sale by owners do not sell on their own.

Information so you can effectively list more for sale by owners in your market.

of those that do sell, they sell on average 11% less than if they would have been represented professionally.

The biggest obstacle that FSBOs face is getting the property priced right

The second biggest obstacle is understanding and executing the paperwork.

So what can I do to convert more For Sale By Owners into more listings?

Truly come from contribution and don’t be like every other agent who is just going in for the listing. If you approach FSBOs with a real regard to help them, they will remember that when they decide to explore a professional listing.

Be sure to have information, or items of value, available to help a FSBO in their sale. The stats are still valid, and most will not sell due to lack of exposure and marketing, but they will remember the agent who actually tried to help them sell.

Actually follow up when you said you would. If you told them you would call every week to check in on them and they said it was okay, THEN DO IT! Sure week one, 15 agents are calling. By week two that number is in half. Week three there are maybe you and one other agent calling. By week 4 it is you and only you.

Recap:

Converting for sale by owners into listings in your market and in Kansas City does not have to be a stressful and painful experience. Keeps several of these lead generation tips handy and you will be increasing your listing inventory like clockwork.

If you want to take this conversation even deeper and discuss the specifics of your action plan and what items of value you leave with your FSBO prospects, just contact me for a private and confidential consultation. Worst case scenario is that you leave with some great information that will help you grow your business.

Setting buyer expectations in a seller’s market in Kansas City can save you time, money and frustrations!

Seemingly overnight we have transitioned from a buyer’s market (more than six months of inventory) to a seller’s market (less than 6 months inventory) in Kansas City. Naturally there is some lag between when the news passes this info along. So right now, we have real live buyers in the field, still looking to get that deal of a lifetime, and they are coming up on homes that are going under contract in less than a week, multiple offers and oftentimes now going under contract for more than list price. If you are not ahead of this shift, and setting your buyer’s expectations about the market ahead of time, you could be setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment.

So how do you set buyer expectations in a seller’s market?

In short, data. You should have the ability to pull up market statistics in your local MLS that can show you average list to sales price ratios over a period of time. In the Heartland MLS that report is called the “Market Conditions Addendum” and does a nice job of compiling the data in a very easy format. Let’s be real, all the data in the world doesn’t mean diddly if you can’t interpret it and relay the info to your buyers in a way that they will understand.

So what if your buyers still think that they can go out and steal a property?

So if you have tried to set your buyers expectations by showing them the data that shows them that we are in a seller’s market here in Kansas City or wherever you are, then sometimes losing out on a property is the only remedy. We are the agent of our client. We can provide advice and consult to the best of our knowledge, if your client still wants to lob in an offer then as a fiduciary you have to do it. Just make sure to let them know that they could be losing out on their perfect home, while someone else comes in on top of this offer and takes it.

Ok, great Mat, we hear you, but how can I set my buyer’s expectations in this Seller’s Market?

Simple. Scripts.

List Price to Sales Price
The average list price in (____________) is (__________) but the average sales price is
(__________). That means that sellers are coming down approximately (__________
dollars). The reason I share this information is that I would prefer to turn you down now,
rather than disappoint you later, if you think you could offer $25,000 less than the list price
and actually expect to get it.
So let me ask you a very direct question. If we found you the perfect home and the seller
is only willing to come down about (_________ dollars) how would you feel about that?